The Aging Equine

(For a list of other articles - go to the bottom of this page)

The Aging Equine & Arthritis

I am sure you all have heard the old adage “the old gray mare ain’t what she used to be”. Just as myself being on the high end of forty seven, some would say in horse years I would be about sixteen years old. I know that in the last few years my body has done a lot of grumbling and on occasion has flat out refused to do things that I was able to do with very little effort like simply unscrewing a lid off of a jar. The same goes for the aging equine. They go through natural aging of the body, joints, eyes, etc…

Holding Arthritis at Bay

Poor conformation will accelerate the wear and tear on the joints. Keeping that in mind, we should be breeding two horses with good conformation to increase our chances of having the offspring born with good conformation. Add routine veterinarian care, regular farrier visits, and daily turnout time to the mix and you will be setting him up for a long and useful career and keep arthritis at bay longer.

Basics of Arthritis

Arthritis
Joint inflammation

Joint
Area where two or more bones meet.

Degenerative Arthritis
Joint damage resulting from long-term wear and tear or can be secondary to a fracture or abnormalities in the joint.

Septic Arthritis
Secondary to a bacterial or viral infection.

The pain of arthritis is from holes in the cartilage lining of the joints or by pressure/pinching from pieces of bone (spurs/calcium) on the edges of an arthritic joint.

Basics of the Joints in the Lower Leg

The joints of the lower leg are at greater risk of forming arthritis because they bear more weight on smaller surfaces and do not have large muscle groups to help protect them from excessive movement.
The Knee joint (front leg) is made up of seven bones and three joints. Its structure is like that of our wrist.
The Hock joint (hind leg) is made up of six bones and four joints. Its structure is like that of our ankle.
The Fetlock joint is made up of four bones - the canon, long pastern, and two sesamoid bones. This joint helps prevent twisting of the lower leg and stabilizes the foot when in motion. This joint is under a lot of stress at high speeds.
The Pastern joint is made up of two bones - the long pastern and the short pastern. Its job is for shock absorption like the other joints, but also takes on the job of adjusting to uneven terrain and twisting of the hoof. This joint is susceptible to sprains, joint lameness and can develop high ringbone.
The Coffin joint is made up of three bones - the short pastern, the coffin and the navicular bone. All of these bones are in the hoof capsule. This joint has a lot of side-to-side movement, helping the horse to stand and move on uneven ground. It works with the fetlock joint to absorb concussion. Two of the possible problems in this area are low ringbone and navicular syndrome/disease.

Ringbone
Result of inflammation of the bone skin and may lead to arthritis or fusion of a joint.

High Ringbone
New bone growth on the bottom end of the long pastern bone or the top of the short pastern bone.

Low Ringbone
New bone growth on the bottom of the short pastern bone or the top of the coffin bone.

Navicular Disease/syndrome
Abnormalities in and around the navicular bone.

Maintaining the Old Horse

Weight – Keeping horses at a healthy weight will help reduce the load on their joints.

Activity- Keep the old horse moving to stimulate circulation and help work out stiffness. Take him for a walk or pony him when you go for a ride. Avoid long periods of stall/small pen confinement to help avoid the risk of decreasing flexibility and range of motion in the joints. Aged horses tend to lose muscle tone and condition faster than the young ones. Keep that in mind and gradually increase activity after an inactive period like following an injury. Most horses benefit from routine exercise and daily turnout just to be a horse. It's good for their body and their mind.

Foot Care

Routinely clean out their hooves to locate any problems early. Keep them on a trimming/shoeing schedule that works for them so they do not grow out of balance, causing them unnecessary stress on their legs and body. Uneven wear affects the entire body not just the feet. The farrier's role will be to relieve the arthritic effects on the aged horse, avoid stress on the limbs, to help slow or stop development of further problems and minimize movement problems.

We all need to remember to give the old horse more time to comply. The old horse's joints do not bend as well, lift as high and can’t flex as far as they did when they were young.

Caring for the
Arthritic Horse

When you're working with the front leg (picture on the left), lift the leg and let it follow its natural angle from the knee which is most often pointing toward the centerline of the horse's body. Obviously, you will have to work "under" the arthritic horse more than with one that is sound. Most arthritic horses seem to have less difficulty extending their legs forward. The pictures on the right show a technique for holding the horse's foot in the forward position. You can actually trim the horse's foot in that position.

When you're working on the hind feet you have an advantage, because the horse naturally rests with its hind foot tipped up.

Simply clean the horse's foot while the toe is resting on the ground (picture on the left). To trim the hind feet, you can either bend over and work on the horse as low as you can (first picture on the right), or you can purchase a "Mini-Hoofstand" with a cradle that will save your back while you work. (last picture).

A special thanks to: Left Field Farms, Milaca, MN. and Old Fred.
Mark Thorkildson, Anoka, MN. Blair Rains and Hillary (the Paint).
Bryan Back, Grasston, MN. and Cheyenne.
Terry Dokken, Hastings, MN. Horse photos.